Iron Butterfly

Iron Butterfly is a U.S. hard rock and psychedelic band, mostly known for their 1968 hit "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida". They are sometimes called "the first heavy metal band" due to this song and others like it. Their heyday was the late 1960s, but the band has been reincarnated several times with various members.

The band was formed in 1966 in San Diego and released their debut album, Heavy, in 1968, after signing a deal with ATCO, an Atlantic Records subsidiary. The original members were Doug Ingle, Ron Bushy, Jerry "The Bear" Penrod, Darryl DeLoach? and Danny Weis. All but Ingle and Bushy left the band after recording the first album in late 1967; the remaining musicians, faced with the possibility of the record not being released, quickly found replacements in bassist Lee Dorman and guitarist Erik Brann and resumed touring.

Weis and Penrod almost immediately went to form the supergroup "Rhinoceros".

The 17-minute "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", the title track of their second album, became a huge hit that spent over a year in the Top Ten. (D...